Just in case you were fantasizing about nature’s creatures living in perfect harmony, you can get a dose of reality from two recently-spotted BFS denizens, who are clearly looking out for #1… Exhibit 1 is the Brown-headed Cowbird: Brown-headed Cowbirds, Molothrus ater, are small blackbirds that do not build their own nests. Instead, females lay […]
Category Archive for 'News'
For the most part pHake Lake is too deep and steep-sided to be a permanent residence for wading birds, but herons and egrets do stop by fairly often. This past Thursday, four Great Egrets (Ardea alba) paid a visit.
There once was a Dormouse who lived in a bed Of delphiniums (blue) and geraniums (red), And all the day long he’d a wonderful view Of geraniums (red) and delphiniums (blue). Well, the BFS doesn’t have any geraniums (or dormice), but we do have a wonderful view of delphiniums (blue), and they’re blooming right now. […]
BFS photo browser and plant photo key now online
Posted in News, Web Updates on Apr 16th, 2009
Two exciting new additions to the BFS website are now available as beta* versions. Please check them out and let us know if you spot any errors, have suggestions, etc. First is our BFS photo database browser, which you can check out at http://www.bfs.claremont.edu/photos/. We have nearly 1,000 photos loaded into our beta* version, and […]
Keep a watch out for animals if driving on BFS
Posted in News on Apr 13th, 2009
Folks: This is the time of year when many different creatures are active. This means lots of them are crossing back and forth on the entrance road — squirrels, snakes, lizards, etc. For those driving onto BFS, please PAY ATTENTION and drive SLOWLY. Someone hit and killed a squirrel today around noon and left it […]
For the past several years, a Bobcat has occasionally been spotted at the BFS, and this spring, BFS users and neighbors have reported more Bobcat sightings and signs. Well, today the cat wandered into a yard that abuts the Field Station and was captured on film by Laura Kotovsky! Although Bobcats are notoriously secretive and […]
An avian oddity was recently spotted at the BFS — a pied leucistic California Towhee. Leucism is caused by a defect in melanin deposition. Some leucistic birds have uniformly reduced pigmentation all over their bodies and other — those with pied leucism — deposit melanin normally in some feathers, but not in others, causing white […]
Signs of Spring
Posted in News on Mar 8th, 2009
Spring has definitely arrived at the BFS! In the last week Amsinckia menziesii, Rancher’s Fireweed, has started blooming all over the East Field — a veritable sea of gold. Manager Stephen Dreher’s efforts last year to mow the non-native grasses before they went to seed seems to have really paid off in encouraging our native […]
Winter at the BFS
Posted in News on Jan 8th, 2009
Some people think that Southern California doesn’t have seasons, but they’re wrong — our seasons are just different from what folks from back east have in mind. But sometimes even here we get hints of traditional winter. A recent early-morning visit to the BFS revealed the East Field covered with rime looking very wintry indeed. […]